


Sounds Serious

by littleboxesofstars



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Getting Together, Love Confessions, M/M, Movie Night, Pining, Richie talks about poetry, Tumblr Prompt, because Feelings are Serious
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2019-10-02
Packaged: 2020-11-10 16:27:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20854781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littleboxesofstars/pseuds/littleboxesofstars
Summary: Richie confesses his love for Stan during a movie night. He tells every member of the Losers Club, except for Stan himself.





	Sounds Serious

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the tumblr user that wanted a stozier oneshot with "a movie night with the others where Richie confesses his crush"! Also posted to tumblr @trash-the-tozier

All of the Losers loved Halloween. They did all of the traditions--decorating, carving pumpkins, eating candy apples, and wearing uncomfortable amount of black and orange. While considering themselves much too old to go trick-or-treating, they still dressed up on the actual day, picking someone’s apartment to lay around in and eating a near-horrific amount of candy. The Halloween activities started on October first, and always with a horror movie marathon. 

They were well into the marathon now, eight bowls of popcorn deep with five Stephen King movies finished, and it was just a little after two a.m. They’d just finished Misery, all of them still awake except Ben. He’d taken a seat on the couch next to Beverly, Beverly throwing a blanket over both of them, and in his drowsiness, he’d leaned against Beverly’s shoulder. She glanced down at his quiet, peaceful face, unable not to smile. It was impossible not to find Ben Hanscom endearing, all of the Losers agreed, but Beverly was beginning to recognize other things within her feelings for him besides endearment. Comfort, and affection, and maybe, just maybe, the beginnings of love. 

All of the soft feelings brought on by looking down at Ben’s sleeping face were interrupted by Richie. He and Stan had crammed themselves into one of the overstuffed armchairs and Richie was stretching, making exaggeratedly loud groaning yawns, throwing his arms and legs out. One of his arms was pressed across Stan’s face, one of his legs thrown completely over Stan’s lap, and once he was fully extended he began to wriggle around under the guise of getting more comfortable. Stan’s expression became more and more deadpan and Beverly was trying hard not to laugh, watching Stan’s annoyance grow as Richie writhed himself against Stan’s body, ending up fully in Stan’s lap. 

Stan gave Richie a light rap on the head with his knuckles. 

“Are you fucking done?” He asked. Richie tried to tilt his head back to look at Stan, but he was too close, and ended up with his head resting on the crook between Stan’s neck and shoulder, curls splayed across Stan’s neck and the back of the chair. 

“Hm? Oh, yeah. I’m fuckin’ peachy.” He declared.

“Oh, good. Good for you.” Stan said, his voice still dry with sarcasm, and a second later he began tickling the life out of Richie, Richie squawking and falling to the floor almost instantly. The group all laughed, Beverly shushing them quickly as Ben shifted against her shoulder. 

“Why?” Richie asked, highly dramatic, clutching at Stan’s shirt. Mike was still laughing at them, Stan placing his hands on the sides of Richie’s face. He was leaning in, and Richie’s face went completely slack, looking into Stan’s eyes, all of his joking and dramatics suddenly gone. His expression was completely starstruck and smitten. 

Stan’s face was only inches from Richie’s when he stopped and spoke. 

“You’re obnoxious.” He answered. Then he let Richie go, grabbing up his empty popcorn bowl and going to the kitchen. 

Richie had blushed from the tips of his ears down his chest, sitting heavily on the couch and covering his face with his hands. The room quiet for a moment, the sound of popcorn being popped starting up in the kitchen. Then,

“Jesus, Rich.” It was Eddie, one eyebrow raised. “Could you be any more desperate?” 

“Shut up.” Richie grumbled back, rubbing his hands over his face as though trying to get rid of the blush, though when he lifted his head, it was still there. 

“Wait, what?” Bill asked. Bill was a bit drowsier than the rest of them--excluding Ben, of course--slumped against Mike with his knees drawn up, looking between Eddie and Richie with confusion. “What do you mean?” 

It wasn’t really a surprise that Bill was blind to the almost painfully obvious crush Richie had on Stan. Bill was pretty oblivious with things like that. Beverly expected Richie to just wave the question off, or make something up, but this time Richie splayed his body against the chair with a sigh of longing and desperation. 

“Bill.” He said. His voice was grave, but Beverly could tell that at least some of it was Richie’s constantly ongoing need to be just a little too theatrical in an attempt to deflect. “Billy boy. I am so in love with him that I almost hate myself for it.” 

“Wait, seriously?” 

“Yeah. For like, ever.” Eddie said, while Richie let out a sigh, his head falling back over the arm of the chair so that it was entirely upside down, his hair almost touching the floor. 

“Why don’t you say anything?” Beverly asked, and Richie scoffed. 

“He’s Stan. He’s not gonna--” He cut himself off to gesture to his body, to his chipped green fingernails, mismatched purple sweatpants, and white t-shirt, the upside down letters on it reading “If You Can Read This, Put Me Back On My Horse”. “Besides, he has some guy in his Intro to Accounting class that he’s been talking to. Which sucks when he tells me about it, but I listen anyway, because I’m a good friend.”

“Maybe he doesn’t like that guy, you know, like _that.”_ Bill’s voice was a bit sympathetic. “He hasn’t told the rest of us about him at all. Maybe he’s just talking to you.”

“Maybe he’s trying to make you jealous.” Eddie proposed. Richie’s face was turning redder the longer he was upside down. 

“Well, it’s working. Haven’t you ever heard that quote? About how loving someone that doesn’t love you back is like punching a brick wall? How it doesn’t punch back but it still hurts?”

“You’re reading poetry?” Mike asked, letting out a low whistle. “This is like… Serious, huh?” 

“It’s so serious, Mikey. Though the poetry is Ben’s fault.” Richie finally sat back up, the color slowly draining back out of his face. He looked at Beverly with a bit of a grin. “Did you know that he’s kept that scrap of his yearbook? That part that you signed like nine years ago? It’s still in his wallet.” 

“Don’t make fun.” Beverly chastised, trying to quiet the flutter the words put in her chest, because she genuinely couldn’t tell if Richie was being serious or not. “Not while he’s not awake to defend himself.” 

“I’m so serious!” Richie exclaimed back. “I was shocked when I found out! Like sure, I’m in love with Stan and whatever, but he is so goddamn mushy.” 

“So stop being a goddamn coward and tell him!” Beverly said, trying to fight the blush she felt growing on her own face. 

“I think he just did.” Mike said, his voice quiet, and Beverly looked over at him in confusion, but Mike wasn’t looking at either of them. He was looking towards the kitchen door, where sure enough, Stan was standing there. He had a large bowl of freshly popped popcorn in his hand, his eyes wide and locked on Richie’s own. 

Richie himself looked like he’d just seen a ghost, his face white as a sheet, jumping up from the chair like it was on fire. 

“That’s--that’s my cue to fuck off forever, I’ll just--” He started, taking two steps towards the hall when Stan spoke up. 

“Wait.” 

It was a word, one word, but it worked like a spell; Richie froze in his tracks. He didn’t turn around but he stopped, standing there, Beverly glancing to Stan. His expression was still one of disbelief, but it looked almost pained as well, something in it desperate.

“Richie, look at me. Please.”

Like a man possessed, unable not to, Richie did. He was hunched wincingly, trying not to stand to his full height, like if he tried hard enough he would just disappear. 

“Were you serious? About what you said?” Stan asked. His voice had gone quiet. 

“I… Yep.” Richie popped the “p”, his eyes on his feet, swinging his hands by his sides. “That’s me. I’m in-fucking-love with you, and if that’s like… Like bad, and weird for you, then that’s fine, I’ll just--”

“Richie.” Stan looked like he was either about to smile, or about to throw up. Beverly couldn’t quite tell which. “Richie, I like you too.” 

Richie head snapped up so fast that Beverly wouldn’t have been surprised if he just hurt himself. 

“You do?”

“I do. So much, fuck.” 

“Are you fucking serious?” 

Stan, thankfully, had now begun smiling. “Yeah. Yeah, I am.” 

“You are?” Richie was smiling too, his posture straightening, and Stan let out a full laugh. Beverly felt very suddenly like neither of them knew that any of the rest of the Losers were in the room at all. 

“How many times do I have to say it, you dumbass?” 

Richie laughed too, and the two were just standing there, smiling at each other, when Eddie spoke up. 

“Well, Richie? Are you going to fucking kiss him or what?” 

Richie flipped Eddie off, but kissed Stan anyway, kissed him with such enthusiasm that the bowl of popcorn fell to the floor with a force that flung kernels everywhere. Stan responded in kind, and Beverly couldn’t help herself, letting out a cheer. 

Unfortunately, the cheer was a little too loud, Ben beginning to stir. Beverly cursed under her breath but it was too late, Ben blinking sleepily at her. 

“Sorry.” She murmured to him, but he was still heavily disoriented, glancing around blearily. He seemed to realize all at once that he’d fallen asleep on her shoulder, beginning to apologize, trying to scoot away to open up some distance between them, his face a bright and blushing pink. 

“It’s okay!” She said quickly, smiling when he didn’t seem to believe her. “Really. It’s okay. You’re all cute when you’re asleep.” 

That did absolutely nothing to help the blush on Ben’s face, but the blush was cute too, so Beverly didn’t mind. 

“Hey!” Mike exclaimed, while Bill lobbed a pillow, which hit Richie in the back. Stan and Richie were still wrapped up in each other, completely oblivious to the rest of the room and the show that they were putting on. “Come on, guys.” 

Richie just held up another middle finger and Stan, who seemed very unwilling to take his arms from around Richie’s neck, simply dragged Richie backwards until the both of them disappeared into the kitchen. 

“We might not be seeing them again tonight.” Bill remarked. Beverly found herself nodding along, while Eddie frowned, looking at the popcorn strewn across the living room rug. 

“Damn. I really wanted some of that popcorn.”


End file.
